Showing posts with label New Wave. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Wave. Show all posts

Wednesday, 1 August 2018

ANDREA LIBEROVICI "LIBEROVICI" (1980)

Piccola mia, dormi ancora che è presto
dormi ancora, il sole è lontano
Piccola mia, no, non voglio svegliarti
voglio solo accarezzarti

Il sole è nato, ancora addormentata
la tua pelle è tutta sudata
La casa è di amici, il letto ad ore
fatto apposta per fare l'amore

Ho diciassett'anni, tu se il mio grande amore
voglio darti la mia vita, il mio colore
Voglio spiegarti che non so come amarti
vorrei dirti mille cose, vorrei toccarti

Voglio svegliarmi insieme a te voglio volare
insieme a te voglio ridere e giocare
Voglio, voglio, quante cose voglio
non riesco mai ad accontentarmi

Parlare con te mi fa sentire più grande
un posto mio e tuo è solo un sogno
Il sole và via, la sera si avvicina
e siamo solo un bambino e una bambina

Voglio amarti, occhi di Luna voglio amarti
su una stella voglio portarti
Voglio scappare con te, voglio scappare
andare avanti e non tornare

Voglio amarti, occhi di Luna voglio amarti
Voglio scappare con te, voglio scappare
andare avanti e non tornare...


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keep on sleeping my little baby, it is still early
keep on sleeping, the sun is faraway
No my little baby, I don't want to wake you up
I just want to caress you

The sun is born, you're still sleeping
and your skin is all sweaty
At a friend's place, a bed by the hour
tailor-made for making love

I am seventeen years old and you're my great love
I want to give you my life and my colours
I want to explain you that I don't know how to love you
I would like to tell you a thousand things, I would like to touch you

I want to wake up with you, I want to fly with you
I want to laugh and play with you
I want, I want, I want so many things
I can never be satisfied

Talking to you makes me feel more grown up
a place of our own is just a dream
The sun has gone away, the night is getting closer
and we're still a little boy and a little girl

I want to love you Moon Eyes, I want to love you
I want to take you on a star
I want to run away with you, I want to run away
move forward and never come back

I want to love you Moon Eyes, I want to love you
I want to run away with you, I want to run away
move forward and never come back...


[from the lyrics of "Occhi di Luna" / "Moon Eyes"]



Well-known Italian musician, composer and director Andrea Liberovici was born in 1962 in Venice, where he spent his youth before moving to Genoa.

Son of Sergio Liberovici (one of the most active musicians in the Italian music scene after World War II and founder - along with Michele Straniero - of the Cantacronache group, prime movers of the folk music revival and important representatives of the new political song movement in Italy) and of Margherita Galante Garrone (better known as Margot, singer-songwriter and also part of the Cantacronache), Andrea grew up in a stimulating environment and easily followed his parents' footsteps.

Liberovici studied composition, violin and viola at the Venice and Turin conservatories, acting at the Scuola del Teatro Stabile in Genoa and singing with Cathy Berberian at the International Festival in Montalcino.



Anyway, legend has it that he discovered Rock music when he was twelve years old, while on holidays in London, after attending a Rolling Stones concert. So, feverish of rock, he didn't hesitate a moment to join a few groups that used to play in pubs in the city. Back in his home town, Liberovici bought the whole Stones discography and spent the winter listening to the records inside and out. During his next holidays he flew again to London for three months and, just like most of the artists on the road, he earned a living playing violin in the London Underground and found a roof occupying houses with other youngsters like him... [1]

Years later, as composer and director, he co-founded the Teatro del suono (Theatre of sound) in 1996, with the poet Edoardo Sanguineti and Ottavia Fusco. Over the last decade Liberovici has created a lot of projects which have explored the relationship between music, poetry, theatre and technology, in collaboration with such renowned artists as Peter Greenaway, Claudia Cardinale, Aldo Nove, Judith Malina, Vittorio Gassman, Giorgio Albertazzi, Enrico Ghezzi, Ivry Gitlis and Regina Carter.


"Liberovici", original inner sleeve"

More recently, his music has been performed by Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (Montreal), Toscanini Orchestra, Teatro Carlo Felice Orchestra and others. These works have also been presented and produced by landmark cultural institutions such as Teatro di Roma, La Fenice in Venice and Salle Olivier Messiaen in Grenoble.

He has also worked in residence at INA-GRM and France Culture in Paris, STEIM Center for research and development in Amsterdam and GMEM National Centre of Musical Creation in Marseille. His music and shows have been presented in Italy and in international cities such as New York, Paris, Athens and Montreal.


"Liberovici", original inner sleeve"

«I was born in Giudecca (...one of the islands in the Venetian Lagoon...) and I spent my entire youth in the city, studying at the Conservatory. I was a curious and restless spirit, before my sixteenth birthday I released my first album, "Oro" (..."Gold", already covered here...), which included songs of a transgressive nature, entirely composed by me, which were born from precocious musical experiences I had along with friends of mine when I used to play in the streets. The venetian producer Ermanno Velludo, also a great engineer, took care of production. A milanese producer passing by Venice produced the following album "Liberovici" (1980), but from that moment I decided to change direction, in controversy with the power of the record labels that often constrain the creativity of an artist.» [2]


"Liberovici", original insert - page 1

«Our home, in Venice, was populated by artists; the full Living Theatre lineup used to pay a visit. My playmate and buddy-buddy, both as a child and as an adolescent, was Serena Nono - daughter of Luigi - now a painter. She was my next-door neighbor and her home, as you would easily guess, was just as full of music and of meetings. Let's say that I was very lucky! My anarchist-creative spirit was not censored, but indeed profoundly encouraged by the people around me (friends, relatives and strangers).»

«I always played a bit of everything, before and during the Conservatory: from guitar to piano and flutes. I started the Conservatory when I was in junior high school and attended it, more or less, until the age of sixteeen. In the meantime I began to record and release my first albums, so I left the Conservatory for about one year. I took it up again when I was eighteen for three years, no longer in Venice but in Turin, studying violin and viola. Later in Turin I continued the study of the instrument and also began to study composition. I never finished the Conservatory and even if for a long time I felt this interruption as a sort of personal failure, now I'm proud of it.»

«My true icons were Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and then Patti Smith. I was fascinated by their singing style.» [3]


"Liberovici", original insert - page 2

«I think that "Oro" is a small declaration of absolute candour and amazement. I wrote it, lyrics and music, at the age of fourteen, but this wouldn't mean much. Indeed, generally speaking, the more you're young and the more you're inclined to refer to models. Instead I think that this album was, although born of many influences, very personal and, therefore, inevitably sincere. I love it very much. It's one of my creations that I love the most.»

«The "Liberovici" album was the beginning of disaffection. Music-industry executives, producers, press agents... At the age of seventeen I was touring Italy as a young star, with driver, fans, etc., and living in a Milan hotel suite. Above all I had no creative autonomy. My every intuition was examined, sifted through and censored. I still remember with horror the fights to the death (I was not easy to tame), with hunger strikes, locked inside the toilets of my record company, because they had rejected a song or mine or, even more serious, because they were putting on me an image that didn't belong to me. I even dared to refuse, with great dismay of the executives, the chance to go to San Remo festival. I literally told them to fuck off and I escaped to London to play my violin in the subway to survive.» [3]


"Liberovici", original insert - page 3

«I've been very lucky with my parents. All three. My mother Margot, an author, singer and puppeteer, my father Sergio, a composer and teacher with whom I lived for just a short time, and Giovanni Morelli, a musicologist who passed away some years ago, with whom I grew up. It was a wonderful family that deliberately throwed me into a magic potion cauldron, just like Obelix, filled with music and theatre. I came out from that pot (...at one point I was about to drown...) with many efforts and also with a great indigestion. Once digested, I found myself in the cauldron again, but with a joyful gratitude for those wonderful flowers who have placed me in the world and that have chosen art literacy from the world for me.» [4]


"Liberovici", original insert - page 4

Sources:

[1] translated from a short feature/interview published on "Albo Varietà Motori" magazine, 1980

[2] translated from a feature/interview by Riccardo Petito published in "Il Gazzettino", n. 174, 25th July 2004

[3] translated from the book "Officine Liberovici" published by Marsilio Editori, Venice, October 2006

[4] translated from an interview conducted by Filippo Bordignon, 2012


Andrea Liberovici performing live, circa 1979-80


"Liberovici" contains the following tracks:

01. L'eroe e l'eroina [The Hero and the Heroin] (3:46)
02. Ammorissimmo Mmio [Suupeer Loovee of Mmine] (3:04)
03. Padre Pio [Father Pio] (2:03)
04. Ciuff ciuff [Choo-Choo] (3:04)
05. Carino carina [Cute boy, pretty girl] (3:58)
06. Tira tira tira [Pull pull pull] (6:34)
07. Vorrei [I Would] (4:47)
08. Occhi di Luna [Moon Eyes] (4:26)
09. Uh caramellina uh uh [Uh Little Candy Uh Uh] (3:03)

All tracks were remastered in July 2018, they include complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files. For my remaster of this album I used audio tracks sourced from the rare CD re-release.

24.11.2018 Update: sorry guys, no downloads and no audio previews are available for this release...



Recorded the previous year, "Liberovici" was released by CGD in Italy sometime in early 1980, probably in January, with catalogue number CGD 20194. The album was re-released on CD sometime during the mid-90s, probably in 1996. Although not a limited edition, this digital version has been unavailable since many years and rarely surfaces on the second hand market.

I came into possession of my vinyl copy of the album in 1987. It was part of a stock of LPs given to me by my older brother, who in turn had got them as a gift from someone else who wanted to get rid of them... Sigh, poor discarded and homeless vinyls, how can people treat you with so much cruelty? My little babies, I'll keep you warm and safe...

Ehm, in 1987 I was 17 years old, just the same age that Andrea Liberovici was in 1979 when he recorded this provocative second album and I couldn't help but identify with many of the verses of the songs included on it.



Given the young age of the musician, and aware that the LP was simply entitled with the author's surname, at that time I thought that "Liberovici" was his first and only album... Since I had enjoyed that record so much, a great joy filled me one year later as I discovered that Andrea had released his debut LP back in 1978: "Oro". I already dedicated a post to it and I almost can't believe that more than five years have already passed since I promised to offer you his second effort...

The difference between the two albums is clear right from the cover: while Oro" showed him offering a beautiful smile under a huge pair of glasses, a guitar over his shoulder and a nice "No Nukes" button, on "Liberovici" Andrea appears almost emaciated, gazing at us with a mixture of challenge and resignation.

   
Andrea Liberovici, feature on 'Albo Varietà Motori' issue 14, April 1980

L'Altritalia has already written the perfect review of this album and I truly hope they won't mind if I include it here below. I completely agree with them about the nature of "Liberovici", which in my opinion is absolutely not a trash album.

«Ridicule can be tragic, and tragic is often sublime. Andrea Liberovici was 18 in 1980. Son of Sergio, composer and etnomusicologist, he was kind of an infant prodigy, having released his first album "Oro" (Gold) in 1978, at the age of 15.

This first effort was sort of an end-of-course essay for a precocious, brilliant child musician who had studied at two different conservatories and had a great talent for theatre as well. The work of a teenager trying to impress the world, attempting to be profound and provocative, while he mostly sounded naive, and eventually innocuous. The music is a mash up of Canterbury-like pop with rockish rushes and some avant tricks. The whole album is actually interesting, but the one track that stands out is "Risotto", which is also a strong link, both musically and lirically, to his incredible second record.

Liberovici came out just at the beginning of what was later called riflusso (“reflow”): after more than twenty years of massive political engagement, the revolutionary movement was rapidly disbanding, and collective issues were soon replaced by individual commitment. La marcia dei quarantamila (“The march of the the forty-thousand”) is a milestone in Italy's contemporary history. More than 40.000 employees and managers from FIAT demonstrated against trade unions power and for a “return to order” in the factories. Restoration was coming. In the meantime, heroin consumption was reaching a peak, and terroristic attacks got more and more indiscriminate and useless.

The conflict was still there, but became a private issue. Something for your analyst, if you could afford one. Or something to sing at, if you were a musician.

The album reflected this end-of-an-era climate, being hysterical, confused, disturbing. It summarized seventies' glam, funk rock, new wave, cantautore style in a way that was already pure eighties' postmodernism. The lyrics as well were a collection of the past decade's alternative culture slogan and clichés: drugs, sex, new social and family relations, spirituality. Everything's fluorescent and overilluminated; exaggerated and yet stylized.

The boy took the risk of turning himself into a comics' character. And in a way he was a comics' character: look at him on the cover. But the thing is, he sounded totally serious about what he was doing. Serious and intransigent as only a young man can be. It's the same attitude that made great Cannibale and Frigidaire, two of the most important and influential italian magazines of those years, and the people from The Great Complotto. Even when he dedicated to Padre Pio – now a saint – a love song which somehow reminds of “Je t’aime, moi non plus”, it was not comedy. There's a no-way-out feeling here, a sense of loss and hate which rescues even the most embarassing moments.

In the end, i disagree completely from pals at Orrore a 33 giri. [...their review of "Liberovici" is available here...] This is not a trash album. It’s a great piece of contemporary art.»

   
Andrea Liberovici, feature on 'Intrepido' issue 26, June 1980


Here's the credits and personnel list of "Liberovici":

Music and lyrics by Andrea Liberovici.

"L'eroe e l'eroina" lyrics by Andrea Liberovici and Marziano Fontana.

Arranged by Tony Mimms.

"L'eroe e l'eroina", "Padre Pio" and "Tira tira tira" arranged by Liberovici, Angelo Turotti and Rockstarter.

Produced by Liberovici.

Mixed by Gigi Venegoni and Gianfranco Longo.

"L'eroe e l'eroina" produced and mixed by Marziano Fontana, Silvio Puzzolu, Liberovici and Pino Vicari.

Recorded in 1979 at Idea Recording, Milan, Italy.

Engineered by Gianfranco Longo and Pino Vicari.

Andrea Liberovici: viola, Fender Telecaster

ROCKSTARTER:
Angelo Turotti: guitars
Roberto Possanzini: bass
Roberto Ricci: drums
Umberto Tenaglia: keyboards

William Marino, Dave Summer, Stefano De Carli, Giancarlo Brambilla: guitars
Michael Fraiser: keyboards
Michael Brill: bass
Andy Surdy, Fabio Amodio: drums
Tullio De Piscopo, Claudio Bassani: percussion
Bruno De Filippi: harmonica
Pierluigi Muccioli, Claudio Pascoli, Giovanni Capriolo: horns
Ornella Cherubini, Eloisa Francia, Marina & Monica Balestrieri: backing vocals

Backing vocals in "L'eroe e l'eroina": Rockstarter, Mixo and Silvio Puzzolu

Photography: Flavio Gallozzi

Cover and Logo Design: Marziano Fontana

   
Adverts for "Liberovici" on 'Il Discorriere' (CGD magazine), February 1980


A few original 1980 TV appearances which feature a short-haired Andrea Liberovici are included below courtesy of YouTube.








More information about Andrea Liberovici is available here:

http://www.liberovici.it/

http://www.teatrodelsuono.it/

http://www.facebook.com/liberovici

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Liberovici

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Liberovici

http://www.fitaveneto.org/2011/images/stories/fitainforma/dicembre_2012/fitainforma_dicembre_2012.pdf

http://www.riccardopetito.it/interviste/liberovici.htm

http://www.connessomagazine.it/andrea-liberovici-un-tuffo-nel-presente-artistico

http://digilander.libero.it/gianni61dgl/andrealiberovici.htm

http://laltritalia.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/music-andrea-liberovici-liberovici-1980/

http://www.lamette.it/modules.php?name=Live_News&func=LiveNewsStampa&nid=1955

http://www.orrorea33giri.com/2008/02/liberovici-liberovici-1980.html


If you have any useful information about Andrea Liberovici, or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!

Saturday, 14 February 2015

AMBO QUAERENS "AMBO QUAERENS" (1980)

«Among all the experiments that are taking place in modern music, maybe the Miami-based French duo of Phil Lasry and Franck Lasry is the one that has most impressed the medias. Featuring voices that position them out of the ordinary, we believe that it is well worth listening to this LP carefully, because it has much to contribute to the current world of musical innovations.»

[Translated from the original Spanish press-release of "Ambo Quaerens"]


Front cover features a picture of Philippe G. Lasry a.k.a. Phil Dufix...

Well, I've been delaying this post for a while trying to find some information about Ambo Quaerens and their self-titled album, but it looks like this time I will be forced to keep it short because I almost didn't find any: no pictures except those of the album cover, not a single video on YouTube - well, that was until I uploaded four songs last week - and, what's worse than anything else, not even a three-lines biography, N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

If you've visited this blog in the past, I am sure that you've noticed how I like to provide detailed information about each release that I take care of, and not being able to do so this time makes me a little bit sad... OK, let me dry my tears and begin...


...back cover offers the usual track titles and brief notes...

As indicated in the brief liner-notes on the back cover, the album was "written, composed, conducted and produced by Phil & Franck G. Lasry for Miami Trans Music". The Ambo Quaerens page on Discogs.com was quite helpful to trace a sort of family tree of the two Frenchmen (...brothers? Cousins? Homonymous?) which were members of the band.

It looks like Philippe Guttières-Lasry also used the Phil Dufix alias for "Heroes", a cult Disco LP released in 1980, the same year that the Italian edition of "Ambo Quaerens" was published. At first sight, the long-haired blond guy portrayed on the cover picture of "Heroes" seems to have little in common with the cover-star of "Ambo Quaerens", but if you carefully compare the two pictures then you'll start to notice they share some features.


...the outer right panel features a picture of Franck G. Lasry for good measure...

Phil was also responsible for Texico, the one-album Disco project that brought us, ehm, "Texico" in 1977... And just for the record, no matter how hard I try but I can't see him on the cover this time, no, no, no... To complete the "one-album project saga", in 1982 he also released "Nervios" under the Wox moniker; hope I will be able to dedicate a post to this album in the future.

Franck Guttières-Lasry, also known as Franck Val, was involved in the Wox project too, and according to Discogs he was also in charge of mastering / mixing a few releases during the early '80s. His picture was placed on the outer right panel of the lavish and elaborate triple gatefold sleeve of "Ambo Quaerens"; more about this subject a few lines below...


...and an Ambo Quarens logo graces the inner center panel of the triple gatefold sleeve.


"Ambo Quaerens" contains the following tracks:

01. Fugitive Rendez-vous (3:21)
02. Facility (5:10)
03. Stop Crying (3:00)
04. Can't Forget (5:24)
05. Risk (4:36)
06. I Wanna Trust (4:08)
07. How About (4:14)
08. Fairy Tail (3:09)

All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in February 2015 and are available in FLAC lossless format or high-quality 320 Kbps MP3 files. Both formats offer complete printable PDF artwork.

Please have a look at the comments for the download links.


This is how the triple gatefold sleeve looks when open...

The first edition of "Ambo Quaerens" was released in Italy by WEA in 1980. As mentioned before, the album features an elaborate triple gatefold sleeve, or as someone would better explain, a gimmix cover: the front cover and the outer right panel are both cut in seven horizontal stripes, so that the faces of Phil and Franck can be combined together; here you can see an example. The artwork was created by famous French photographer and director Jean-Baptiste Mondino.

My copy of the album is a promo version of the Spanish edition that was released by Zafiro in 1981. The main difference between the two editions is the following: the front cover and the outer right panel are cut in two big horizontal slices only, and the "combined faces" effect is almost lost...



Side One opens with the reverberated piano notes of "Fugitive Rendez-vous", which is one of the strongest cuts of the album. Both Phil and Franck sing on this tune - and on some of the other tracks too - but unfortunately I don't know which of the two voices belongs to each of them and, believe me, I would be quite curious to learn who is the fragile falsetto.

Soon follows "Facility", another lovely and catchy tune that probably would have benefited from a promotional videoclip in those days of New Romanticism. In 1980 the song was released as a promo 12" single for Italian radio stations backed with "Risk" on the flipside, but was moved to Side B on the official 7" that was released the next year.

With "Stop Crying" we enter in a sort of "La Boum" territory (...does anyone here remember about it?) and I'm sure that this song wouldn't have looked bad in the movie or in a similar movie... This piece is sung by the falsetto voice alone, which it is stretched to its limits and way beyond... However I love this album, in my opinion this is its weakest point.

After this misstep, the synth textures, string machine and Disco hints of "Can't Forget" definitively brings quality back: if my ears did not deceive me, the sounds and the atmosphere of this piece resemble some of the tracks that Duran Duran will record and release just one or two years later... And by the way, the falsetto voice is absent on this song...



...and here we are, at last, on Side Two, ready for the piano chords that introduce "Risk", the band's opus and for sure the highest point on the album. When I listen to this tune, I really can't help myself to hum, sing and shout! How is it possibile that Ambo Quaerens almost didn't left a trace of their brief passage? And returning to what I wrote at the beginning of this post: why the lack of information about them? Phil and Franck, I truly hope that you're still out there and fine, I'd like to thank you for this beautiful song: it still sends shivers on my back 35 years after the first time I listened to it!!!

By the way, is there any mother tongue English / American visitor of this blog who would be so kind to decipher the lyrics of this song for me? I desperately tried, but most of my efforts were useless... It would be great if someone could help, THANKS!

OK, I recompose myself just to add that in 1981 the song was relased as a 7" single both in Spain (...with "How About" on the flipside) and in Italy (...with "Facility") where it was also used as the theme song for a sexy television show entitled "Playboy di sera" (Playboy By Night).

"I Wanna Trust" is the most Pop-Rock oriented song of the lot and it features a prominent guitar sound with many solos... A radio-friendly piece for the American market? Uhm... Not bad, but a little bit anonymous... "How About" brings back a Disco beat with additional percussions, falsetto singing and a catchy refrain; definitely the most danceable song on the album.

All good things come to an end, and this is no exception of course: "Fairy Tail" (...a wordplay or a mistake?) is an instrumental number, mainly for piano and strings, that - like a few other passages and solutions heard in some of the previous tracks - seems to betray a classical music education. Just a guess, who knows...


...and this is the inner view of the triple gatefold sleeve when open.


The following clips offer a preview of the remastered album: enjoy "Fugitive Rendez-vous", "Facility", the masterpiece "Risk" and "Can't Forget"!










A few more information about Ambo Quaerens is available here:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/1819849-Ambo-Quaerens

...not many links this time, uh? Well, as a bonus, here's the original press-release included in the Spanish edition of the album:




If you have any other useful information about Ambo Quaerens - especially corrections and improvements to this post - or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!

Friday, 25 April 2014

A.A.V.V. "A FACTORY QUARTET" (1980)

«FAC 24: as yet untitled. Basically, it's another Factory sample, only this time a double 10" featuring 4 bands / 15 minutes each.

1) The Royal Family. A remarkable S.I. influenced outfit from Liverpool who, with sing along numbers like "Vanneigem Mix", rose such comments as; "They show The Gang of Four to be the bubble gum band we always thought they were." - R. Boone.

2) Blurt. Sax based dance band from Stroud - Jesus Christ Stroud! Fronted by former anarcho beat poet - reformed.

3) The Durutti Column. An extended piece being prepared by Vinny Reilly, Stephen Hopkins and Mr. Hannett.

4) Kevin Hewick. Kid comes from Leicester. Writes singles about hay-stacks and finding needles, and apart from the fact that he likes Sylvia Plath and Clem Burke, he has a lot going for him. Interested in frail specifics, yip, yip, yip.
»

[from an early 1980 Factory Records hand-typed "newsletter and shareholder's analysis"]


"A Factory Quartet", front cover reconstruction

«We were at FAC10 for "Unknown Pleasures", then 11 for X-O-Dus, and 12 and then 13, then Vini's album is 14. It was only when we did the next album that we said 'Well what's this going to be? Well that one was 14, well this could be 24'. And the fact that the second album that Vini was on, was a four sides, with four artists. Two albums, four artists, it was like 'Oh look, 24!' Four artists, two vinyl, how appropriate.»

[Tony Wilson explaining the thinking behind the Factory catalogue number for "A Factory Quartet"]


"A Factory Quartet", back cover reconstruction


Well, I've been working on this post for quite a lot of time... This is one of my favourite records ever, and one that I heavily played in my Twenties when Factory and Mute used to keep my turntable busy most of the times during the early '90s.

I have always preferred "A Factory Quartet" to "A Factory Sample", althought it is commonly considered of inferior quality compared to its predecessor. The main reason is quite simple: the Quartet offers more quality music from The Durutti Column, which have been my favourite band for many, many years.

The fact that every band/artist has a whole side of music also made it easier to get a clear idea about them, and I decided that they were all worth a deeper exploration: in a few months I was able to get second-hand copies of "In Berlin" by Blurt, "Such Hunger For Love" by Kevin Hewick and the "Art - Dream - Dominion" 12" single by The Royal Family and the Poor, wow!

At the time I purchased my second-hand copy of "A Factory Quartet" I already knew The Durutti Column's albums released by Factory in the early '80s, and although their contribution to the Quartet misses the unique drumming style of Bruce Mitchell - who still wasn't part of the band at the time - I was more than happy to be able to finally listen the original studio versions of two Durutti classics like "For Belgian Friends" and "Self-portrait".


"A Factory Quartet", inner gatefold detail left

The first part of the long Kevin Hewick live side (...about 25 minutes!) has been a mistery to me for quite many years. My knowledge of English was limited then ("...he has not improved a lot in the meantime..." I here you say...) so I couldn't understand the reason why the young singer-songwriter was receiving such an hostile reaction from the public... Anyway, I was able to figure out that Hewick was standing his grounds firmly, and I liked that. While preparing this post I finally discovered the reason: Hewick was supporting a Roy Harper tour and the main attraction was more than 90 minutes late!

With their primeval drumming, frantic saxophone and hallucinated voice, Blurt were my introduction to stripped-back Avantgarde Jazz-Rock. The songs included on the Quartet are taken from a demo recorded at home on a Teac four-track machine and are pretty lo-fi, a characteristic that matches them with the Kevin Hewick live recordings. Anyway, the seven minutes of "Dyslexia" are worth the admission ticket alone and still make a strong impression on me after all these years.

The Royal Family and the Poor's contribution to the Quartet sounded to me like is a sort of an endless flux of distorted guitars overlaid with, what I now know is - Situationist oratory.... Something like an extended version of Joy Division's "Atrocity Exhibition" brought to the limit... Exhausting, but in a positive way!


"A Factory Quartet", inner gatefold detail right


The following text is excerpted from James Nice's opus "Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records". In his book, Nice offers an extremely complete and incredibly documented research on the legendary Mancunian label; I strongly suggest anyone who has an interest in Post-Punk and New Wave to rush out and buy this book, it is simply essential and an effort of the highest quality.

This is the definitive story of Factory Records, or the Factory Bible if you prefer, all other books that deal with the same subject pale in comparison. You can buy "Shadowplayers" here.


"A Factory Quartet", inner sleeve 1 front, Vini Reilly (The Durutti Column)

«Following one-off singles by OMD, The Distractions and X-O-Dus, by the spring of 1980 the second wave of Factory bands was set to comprise Section 25, The Names, Minny Pops and Crawling Chaos, as well as a mooted album project by Martin Hannett and Steve Hopkins as The Invisible Girls, though this project was never completed.

With Gretton's influence on A&R increasingly apparent, Wilson determined to showcase Vini Reilly and three new left-field artists on a second label compilation, A Factory Quartet, envisaged as 'another Factory Sample' (thus Fact 24), and scheduled for release as a double 10-inch package in April.

None of the three newcomers hailed from Manchester, and all were recruited on the basis of demo tapes, sight unseen. Unfortunately, as with the clumsy original Durutti Column band, the year-long Factory Quartet fiasco only served to emphasize that Wilson's skills as a talent scout were somewhat haphazard.


"A Factory Quartet", inner sleeve 1 back, Kevin Hewick

The pick of this unlikely trio was Blurt. Born in 1943, musician, poet and self-confessed 'performance junkie' Ted Milton had already been around several creative blocks by 1980, boasting a colourful background unmatched by any other early Factory artist. As a verse writer, his work had appeared in the Paris Review and "Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain" as early as 1969, after which Milton diversified into left-field puppeteering, performing as Mr Pugh's Velvet Glove Show, and contributing a puppetry scene to Terry Gilliam's 1977 comic film "Jabberwocky".

The following year Milton supported Ian Dury on tour, where he was seen by Wilson and invited to perform on 'So It Goes'. Milton then took up the saxophone, and in late 1979 formed Blurt as a trio with drumming brother Jake and guitarist Pete Creese.

Early Blurt critiques would compare the oddball trio with James Chance, Captain Beefheart, Wild Man Fischer, Tom Waits and any number of left-field jazz icons, though their stripped-back, noisy, avant-garde sound defied easy categorization.



"A Factory Quartet", inner sleeve 2 front, Ted Milton (Blurt)

Blurt quickly recorded a basic demo at home in Stroud, a copy of which Ted Milton dispatched to Wilson. Always alert to potential genius, Wilson offered to release these lo-fi demo tracks as one side of the Factory Quartet, labelling the trio as a 'sax-based dance band, fronted by former anarcho beat poet - reformed.'

Blurt on Factory seems less outlandish in the light of Wilson's desire to release an album of Charles Bukowski readings at this time, and in truth he was more interested in Milton as a personality than in Blurt as a working band.

"Ted was a friend of Tony's and welcome visitor," confirms Lindsay Reade. "He stayed at our house in Charlesworth on several occasions when up from Stroud and we also visited him. He was very amusing and clever as I recall. I suspect his contribution to the Quartet came from Tony's appreciation of his originality, humour and performance that, like John Dowie, was on the wacky side of things but not perhaps of lasting significance to Factory."



"A Factory Quartet", inner sleeve 2 back, Arthur McDonald (The Royal Family and the Poor)

Wilson was also intrigued by Kevin Hewick. A capable singer-songwriter with a talent for arresting melody, Leicester troubadour Hewick was no less fond of Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Neil Young than of punk and new wave, and at the beginning of 1980 was employed as a clerk in a social security office.

"I did lots of tapes in my bedroom and sent them off to various labels, and one of them appealed to Tony Wilson. Before I knew it, the Joy Division-obsessed bedroom tape maker became a Joy Division support act."

Promoting Hewick's bashful talent as 'frail specifics', Wilson confidently predicted that singer-songwriters would be back in fashion by 1982. Meanwhile the unassuming 'folkie' guitarist made his Factory debut at the troubled City Fun benefit at the New Osborne Club on 7 February, along with Joy Division, A Certain Ratio and Section 25, but failed to make much of an impression.



Vini Reilly (The Durutti Column) in Manchester, 1980, photo by Kevin Cummins

From Liverpool, The Royal Family and the Poor presented less as a group than a pseudo-Situationist provocation. Their first incarnation came together after teenage musician Michael Keane met Arthur McDonald, an art graduate with an interest in SI politics and the avant-garde. "I was about eighteen at the time," Keane recalls, "and Arthur was a bit older than me, about twenty-eight. I was already pretty aware, but he sort of introduced me to a lot of ideas. I got this old synthesizer and put it through a record player, which produced a horrendous noise. Then Arthur just started reciting Situationist texts over the top of it."

Like Blurt, the unlikely duo recorded a crude tape and posted a copy to Factory. Switching into full McLaren mode, Wilson plucked their clumsy name from Sex Pistols: The Inside Story, a paperback written by Fred and Judy Vermorel, at a stroke doubling the number of SI-monikered artists on Factory.

By the time The Royal Family made their live debut, the group had expanded to include drummer Phil Hurst and Wilson protégé Nathan McGough on bass, permitting forays into politicized punk-funk redolent of The Pop Group and Gang of Four. True to form, A Factory Quartet was nowhere near ready for release in April 1980 and would not appear until the end of the year.



Kevin Hewick, early '80s

Finally released in December, A Factory Quartet arrived as a conventional double album offering a side apiece by Blurt, Kevin Hewick, The Durutti Column and The Royal Family and The Poor. Aside from arriving eight months late, A Factory Quartet now served no useful purpose, Blurt having already released their first single through a London label, and Kevin Hewick deserving a better vinyl debut than seven scrappy live tracks recorded on a Roy Harper tour.

"I had a big bust-up with Tony," explains the hapless singer. "I brought the tapes to Factory clearly marked, but Tony went through them and picked out different tracks to the ones I wanted. I was furious, but what could I do? They were tapes of me and an audience hurling abuse at each other. My gigs are never like that unless I get a really rude crowd, then I let my temper get the better of me."

The three new Durutti tracks were pleasant enough, and enlivened by the presence of Donald Johnson on drums, yet no amount of Hannett alchemy or Situationist (w)rapping could elevate the Royal Family material above the mundane.



Ted Milton (Blurt)

Even the sleeve of Fact 24 disappointed, with the raised embossed panels failing to lift what was essentially a collection of abstract polaroids snapped by Wilson and mounted on heavy grade card. "I put out that one record," he pleaded defensively, "and I knew everyone else would think it was shit. I think it's great. I knew people would hate it, but Rough Trade and Pinnacle both said they could sell lots of them."

Priced at 'five guineas', the Quartet sold well enough, briefly visiting the British indie top ten, but was dismissed by reviewers, some of whom voiced concerns over Factory's 'growing obsession with coffee-table chic'. In reality, the problem was simply that Fact 24 was a Wilson pet project, and its curator cursed with a tin ear for music.

The belated release of A Factory Quartet also marked the end of Blurt's relationship with the label, and plans to release live album In Berlin through Factory Benelux foundered after Armageddon offered a cash advance. "My feeling about Factory is that they have Joy Division and A Certain Ratio and everything else is a sidetrack," Ted Milton confided to Melody Maker. "They might be interested in us, but they only have a certain amount of time and energy. We also had a sense of being on hold. Factory is a style, like Habitat or something like that, a house style... I was bugged by the presentation of Quartet, too sort of twee for my liking. But they're not interested in asking you what you want to see there and stuff like that, it comes from the top, it comes from Tony. You get a feeling of being a pawn, actually. It's very distressing."



Michael Anthony Keane (The Royal Family and the Poor), 1986

Reviewing A Factory Quartet in Melody Maker, Lynden Barber summed up the prevailing critical attitude towards Factory at the close of 1980. "This record [...] is an indication that Factory seem to be sliding down a dubious slope towards an image. Factory are becoming too complacent, wrapped up in their image as a special label. As for their highly elitist practice of only releasing certain records on the Continent so that British fans have to fork out inflated import prices, there's no excuse. Factory used to be a label to be looked up to. I'd like that to continue in 1981, but better that they don't release anything at all than issue these damaged goods. If you're thinking of shelling out the requested five ‘guineas' for this album, don't. It only encourages them."»

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As a welcome supplement to the James Nice's "Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records" excerpt above here, I suggest that you pay a visit to Cerysmatic Factory website and read this precious interview where Kevin Hewick recalls the days of "A Factory Quartet".


Here's the track list of "A Factory Quartet":

Disc 1

01. THE DURUTTI COLUMN - For Mimi (4:35)
02. THE DURUTTI COLUMN - For Belgian Friends (5:25)
03. THE DURUTTI COLUMN - Self-portrait (4:50)
04. KEVIN HEWICK - Rubble (5:59)
05. KEVIN HEWICK - 1940 (2:45)
06. KEVIN HEWICK - A Little Feeling (3:24)
07. KEVIN HEWICK - Forget (2:46)
08. KEVIN HEWICK - Morphia (3:20)
09. KEVIN HEWICK - The Enchanted Kiss (4:19)
10. KEVIN HEWICK - Haystack (2:39)

Disc 2

01. BLURT - Puppetter (3:22)
02. BLURT - Dyslexia (7:26)
03. BLURT - Some Come (3:04)
04. BLURT - Benighted (4:38)
05. THE ROYAL FAMILY AND THE POOR - Dirge (1:11)
06. THE ROYAL FAMILY AND THE POOR - Vaneigem Mix (6:24)
07. THE ROYAL FAMILY AND THE POOR - Dirge (1:08)
08. THE ROYAL FAMILY AND THE POOR - Death Factory (6:15)
09. THE ROYAL FAMILY AND THE POOR - Dirge (0:59)
10. THE ROYAL FAMILY AND THE POOR - Rackets (6:42)

All tracks were remastered from the original vinyls in March 2014, they are available as two FLAC lossless format files or two high-quality 320 Kbps MP3 files. Both formats offer complete printable PDF artwork, including a 12-page booklet.

Before burning the compilation on two CD-Rs using the provided CUE files, you need to convert the original files to WAV format using an appropriate software. Here's an option for FLAC to WAV conversion and one for MP3 to WAV conversion.

As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.


The following credits are spread across the labels and the end-groove areas of the original release:



THE DURUTTI COLUMN

The Durutti Column on this occasion were Vini Reilly on guitar and piano, and Donald Johnstone on drums.

Martin Hannett produced and Chris Nagle engineered, this at Strawberry Studios Stockport.

The pieces are written by Vini Reilly and published by Movement of 24th of January Publishing.

FACT 24A [FACT 24 A1 A PORKY PRIME CUT FOR WHO IT SAYS LYN-8869]


Vini Reilly performing live in the early '80s

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



KEVIN HEWICK

The first three songs were performed at Leeds University in May 1980 on the Sylvia Plath Comeback Tour, the rest at the Moonlight West Hampstead in April 1980.

Live sound by Dave Pringle, Glyn Wood and John Hurst.

Noise generator on 'Morphia' by Peter Terel.

Kevin Hewick writes them and Funny Animals Music publishes them.

FACT 24B [FACT 24 B1 A PORKY PRIME CUT YIP YIP YIP LYN-8870]


Kevin Hewick performing live in the early '80s

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BLURT

Blurt are Blurt are Ted Milton, sax and vocals, brother Jake on drums and Peter Creese on guitar.

All material written by Blurt and published by Blackhill, you remember Blackhill, produced by Jake Milton at home.

FACT 24C [FACT 24 C1 P.O.R.K.Y. N.A.R.G. LYN-8871 2]


Ted Milton performing live

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



THE ROYAL FAMILY AND THE POOR

The Royal Family and the Poor on this occasion were Levi Windsor, Nathan Windsor, Phil Windsor and Mike Windsor.

Another Hannett and Nagle job carried out at Graveyard, Prestwich, and Strawberry, Stockport.

Assists to Gretton and Pickering.

No copyright for all the usual reasons.

FACT 24D [FACT 24 D1 PORKY THE MODE OF PRODUCTION ETC.... - LYN-8872]


Arthur McDonald, early vocalist of The Royal Family and The Poor, performing live


Enjoy a few related videos courtesy of YouTube:


The Durutti Column "Never Known" promotional clip, 1981



Kevin Hewick perfoming "Morphia" live, filmed by Tony Wilson, circa 1980-1981



Blurt "Puppetter", the footage is from a super-8mm film featuring Ted Milton as Mr. Pugh.



The Royal Family and the Poor "Art on 45", 1982


More information about A Factory Quartet, The Durutti Column, Kevin Hewick, Blurt, The Royal Family and the Poor and Factory Records is available here:


A Factory Quartet

http://www.discogs.com/Various-A-Factory-Quartet/release/418113

http://www.cerysmaticfactory.info/fact24.html

http://blog.factoryrecords.org/1980/12/fact-24-various-artists-factory-quartet.html

http://cerysmaticfactory.info/factory_shareholders_analysis.php

http://www.cerysmaticfactory.info/fact24c_a_factory_quartet_boxed_cassette.html

http://afactoryalphabet.blogspot.com/2009/05/q-is-for-factory-quartet.html

http://norecordshopsleft.blogspot.com/2012/08/various-artists-factory-quartet-second.html

http://discography.thedurutticolumn.info/1980_12_01_archive.html


The Durutti Column

http://www.thedurutticolumn.com/

http://www.cerysmaticfactory.info/the_durutti_column.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Durutti_Column

http://www.discogs.com/artist/637432-Durutti-Column-The

http://www.facgigographies.com/thedurutticolumn/dcgigography.htm

http://users.rcn.com/rpsweb/durutti-column/

http://pantry.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/for-belgian-friends/

http://www.newwavephotos.com/gallery.php?name=DuruttiColumn


Kevin Hewick

http://www.kevinhewick.co.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Hewick

http://www.discogs.com/artist/11893-Kevin-Hewick

http://dieordiy2.blogspot.com/2014/04/kevin-hewick-early-factory-and-cherry.html

http://www.cerysmaticfactory.info/duruttifinland240781.php

http://ilovetotaldestruction.blogspot.com/2010/04/kevin-hewick-art-of-giving-toss.html

http://www.teenbeatrecords.com/artists/kevinhewick.html


Blurt

http://www.tedmilton.net/

http://www.ltmrecordings.com/blurt.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Milton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blurt

http://www.discogs.com/artist/44615-Blurt

http://www.eclypso.com/2011/11/ted-milton-blurt.html


The Royal Family and the Poor

http://www.ltmrecordings.com/rfatpbio.html

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Royal+Family+And+The+Poor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Royal_Family_and_the_Poor

http://www.cerysmaticfactory.info/the_royal_family_and_the_poor.php

http://www.discogs.com/artist/23694-Royal-Family-And-The-Poor

http://www.factmag.com/2012/09/24/lucky-sevens-factory-records-most-underrated-acts/6/

http://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/royal-family-poor-interview-arthur-mcdonald

http://blog.fixemag.org/post/50674421925/arthurmcdonald

http://www.cerysmaticfactory.info/forum/view_post.php?thread=88947


Factory Records

http://www.cerysmaticfactory.info/

http://www.factoryrecords.net/

http://factoryrecords.org/

http://ltmrecordings.com/

http://factorybenelux.com/

http://www.factoryrecords.info

http://www.discogs.com/label/857-Factory

http://home.wxs.nl/~frankbri/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowplayers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_Records

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_Records_discography

http://www.discogs.com/lists/Factory-Boxed-Cassettes/125734

http://testpressing.org/2011/09/photographs-factory-cassettes/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Wilson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Erasmus

http://www.petersaville.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Saville_%28graphic_designer%29

http://www.martinhannett.co.uk/

http://www.horae.dti.ne.jp/~ouchman/index.html

http://www.spaceritual.net/tractor/mh-mpgm.htm

http://www.cargostudios.co.uk/myths.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Gretton


If you have any other useful information concerning this post - or if you spot any dead links - please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!

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